Mismanagement, lack of supervision cited in report

Chemist Annie Dookhan was the "sole bad actor," but mismanagement and lack of supervision and proper protocols at the now closed State Drug Lab, created the environment allowing her to tamper with thousands of drug samples during her eight years as a chemist, State Inspector General Glenn Cunha said Tuesday as he released a 129-page report.

"Annie Dookhan's actions at the drug lab were unique. My team found no indication that any other drug lab employee was tampering with test results," Cunha said a press conference unveiling the 15-month investigation's findings. "Let's be clear, Dookhan's behavior did not go unnoticed. Our investigation reveals starting in 2010 concerns surfaced."

Cunha said after examining 200,000 documents and interviewing 40 individuals involved in the scandal uncovered in 2012, his investigators discovered Dookhan's colleagues suspected she was tampering with and falsifying records as far back as 2010, but her supervisors ignored the evidence.

To date, six state workers connected to the scandal have been fired, retired or resigned, including former Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach, who Cunha said, "failed to respond appropriately to the report of Dookhan's break of protocol; the investigation DPH conducted was far too narrow and Auerbach and his staff failed to disclose another known act of malfeasance to prosecutors, defendants and other interested parties."

The report states that in February 2012, Auerbach chose not to disclose to prosecutors, the media and the Legislature that Dookhan failed to follow proper procedures in handling 30 drug samples in May 2011, releasing only information about 90 samples handled incorrectly by her in June 2011.

The state Public Safety Department said to date, the cases of 692 Department of Corrections inmates have been identified for review because of Dookhan's involvement, and 359 inmates already have been released. This does not include prisoners in the county Houses of Corrections.

Cunha said Dookhan handled 46,000 drug samples during her tenure, affecting 26,000 individuals. She is currently serving a five-year prison term.

The report was a scathing indictment of the Hinton Drug Lab, one of several labs at the Jamaica Plain site. But Gov. Deval Patrick said it was the only one that was not accredited, and all tests are now being conducted and supervised by the State Police.

Cunha said mismanagement included the failure to define protocols for handling and reporting drug tests, the lack of performance evaluations of employees since 2007, no formal training of chemists, lack of security at the lab and no oversight of the work being conducted by the chemists.

Patrick said most of the problems have since been addressed, including the increase in numbers of chemists from five to 20.

When asked about Auerbach, who was allowed to resign during the scandal, Patrick said he left because of another job offer, but he conceded the allegations against Auerbach in the report were "a concern."

Auerbach was "a great commissioner, in many respects, but he was not in this," said the governor.

When asked if he worries if offenders released because of Dookhan might reoffend, he refused to answer.

"That is not the issue. That is the sort of question that gets asked to figure out whether I'm going to be politically embarrassed if something like that happens," said Patrick. "If someone is in jail unconstitutionally that needs to be dealt with."

Cunha said as inspector general he is responsible for referring any criminal acts uncovered by his team to the attorney general, but he said that information was confidential.

FROM BOSTON'S NEWS LEADER. THIS IS WCVB, NEWSCENTER 5 AT NOON. GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE, I'M ERIKA TARANTAL. BREAKING NEWS, THE STATE INSPECTOR GENERAL SAYS IMPRISONED CHEMIST ANNIE DOOKHAN WAS THE SOLE BAD ACTOR AT THE STATE DRUG LAB. THIS IS THE REPORT JUST RELEASED. SHE'S SERVING THREE TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE THAT JEOPARDIZES THOUSANDS OF CONVICTIONS. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY JUST SPEAKING IN KIEV SAYING WE'LL STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE. KERRY MAKING CLEAR, THE U.S. IS NOT SEEKING CONFRONTATION, BUT THERE'S A BETTER WAY FOR RUSSIA TO SEEK WHAT IT'S LOOKING FOR. AND THE BEATING DEATH OF THIS LITTLE BOY. THE MOTHER AND HER BOYFRIEND WERE CHARGED IN THE DEATH OF CHAUNCEY COHEN. STATING THAT ANNIE DOOKHAN ACTED ALONE, JIM LOKAY WHERE A NEW REPORT HAS BEEN RELEASED. ACTED ALONE, BUT OTHER FACTORS INVOLVED IN THE CASE PARALYZED THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE BAY STATE. 46,000 CASES AFFECTED BY THE DRUG LAB IN JAMAICA PLAINS. COMPLAINTS WERE COMING FROM CO-WORKERS FROM AS FAR BACK AS 2010, INVOLVING CASES IN WHICH DOOKHAN WAS THE PRIMARY CHEMIST ON THE CASES. THERE'S A PRIMARY CHEMIST AND A SECONDARY CHEMIST. CASES WHERE SHE IS A SECONDARY WEREN'T INVOLVED, BUT WHERE SHE WAS THE PRIMARY INVOLVED. WE DID NOT FIND EVIDENCE THAT SHE MANIPULATED RECORDS IN THE DATA BASE, SHE ACTED ALONE AND WE FOUND NO EVIDENCE THAT ANY OTHER CHEMIST IN THE LAB SHARED HER GOAL OF INTENTIONALLY FALSIFYING TEST RESULTS. THAT SAID, A LACK OF UNIFORM PROCEDURES AND PROTOCOLS AT THE LAB LED TO DRUG TESTING RESULTS LED TO CASES NOT BEING TURNED OVER. THE STATE POLICE LAB IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE STATE DRUG LAB. GOVERNOR PATRICK IS INSIDE THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND INVITED THEM TO TOUR THE STATE POLICE LAB WHICH IS ACCREDITED. THERE ARE CERTAIN STANDARDS TO